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Bak Wins GPT’s Last O/8 Title – Ever

We had a record low field of nine and played a 60 minute level three, in part to time the dinner break to the NCAA selection show (Go Gators!). We’ve been looking for things to cut from next fall’s shorter season, and Omaha/8 got the vote-with-the-feet (or lack thereof) nod. Even the people who showed up cursed it, with only Bak holding his tongue due to an enormous early chip lead.

The web site is updated. Hank went from the short-stack and a likely bubble to second place, with a small assist from me deciding to take on the chip stack’s monster draw holding a set and no possible low when there were four left.

It was Bak’s second title to go along with a runner-up and he’s now in fifth place ahead of Sean, Phil, and Alex. JD is on the bubble with Shelley (SHELLEY!?) just behind him. I’m a notch ahead of Bak, with Candy still holding on for third. Hank is 14 points behind Tim, who remained in first place.

Sean Takes a Swan Song, and First Place

This week we welcomed a long overdo new player, Lyon. Lyon tried to set the rebuy record in a game he has never played before, but he came up way short of Keith’s record. But, in keeping with Keith’s tradition, he was first out as if he had some place to be (although unlike Keith, he probably did).

We had 12 for A-to-M which is a nice showing. After Lyon did the obligatory rebuy-champ-first-out-move Bak was next, and he was not happy. He doesn’t like the ace-to-five version of lowball. Next out was Dan, who I busted, and it was so nice. He brough a rookie who took about five minutes to learn the game and then started killing me, so he deserved it (we love you Dan!). Can was out next – she’s been coasting after such a strong start to give the rest of us a chance. Thanks Candy – I for one am thankful. Hank would never be such a good sport!

Once we got to the final table the rookie crippled me when I had a 6 and raised him, and he moved it for a little more. Do you know how painful it is calling a 7-to-1 bet when you think it’s 5-to-1 you’re up against the nuts? Yeah, he had the “roughest possible 5” as Baklava would say. But, ironically, I bounced him out next. I think he was playing fast because Dan was tired of waiting for him and it was push his chips or go home. Still, he was our second-best A-5 rookie after Kelvin who won the first A-5 he ever played. I just dumped 10 in a 1/2 game on-line so I hope you appreciate this write-up.

Tim went out on the bubble. I don’t remember exactly how but I know it was draw-out against a pat hand because that is the same way Candy went out, and I remember that the First Couple of the GPT went out the same way.

Shelley got short-stacked and finally ran out of luck, and I followed her out when Phil caught a Q and I paired my 4 with A234 (is that a good draw in this game? I’m such a donk). Sean started with a big chip lead, and Phil played his heart out and took the lead. With the lead, he called Sean’s all-in holding a nut-draw, and caught a ten against Sean’s pat-8. The very next hand he made a frustration all-in with Sean holding a one-card draw to a 6. It didn’t work out, and Sean took down his first title of Spring 2007.

Tim’s bubble was enough to keep him in the lead by 17 points over Hank, who leads Candy by four points. Enough being sporting Candy – time to bear down! I, miraculously, am in fourth with zero titles and zero second place finishes. We really need to change the rules next year so donks like me don’t rank so highly. Sean vaults to fifth just ahead of Bak. Alex and Phil are tied for the last spot.

Sean and I racked up some kills and I’m actually tied with Alex for the lead. Wonder of wonders. JD and Sean are tied for second, with The First Couple on everyone’s heals.





P.S. Lee, thank you for the Red Stripe. There are some left.

To Tim From Tyler:

Angry Hank Thwarts Three-pete

The GPT drew a record-low nine for Stud/8. Good job guys! Candy was there, but I’m not allowed to talk about it. With all nine players at one table the tournament lost no one until the 150/300 level. The first person out (that I can talk about) was newbie Joey followed by Alex, both of whom were playing Stud/8 for the first time. Still, rook-on-rook violence resulted in Alex adding another kill to overtake JD for the lead. Alex’s departure doubled Hank’s kill total for the year.

Bearded Mike was crippled by Shelley (“Shelley!?”) in two hands – once when rolled-up trips fell to a flush on fifth street, and once after he hit the case king for KKQQ against her QQJJ – and she caught the case jack. He went out sixth and doesn’t like Stud/8 anymore.

Hank decided to get all of his kills in one tournament and knocked out Sean, Shelley, Tim, and Baklava successively to take his second title of the year.

I know readers of this space are disappointed to not see a picture of Hank making some kind of drunken, pseudo-sexual obscene pose, but alas, there are no pictures.

Tim’s third place finish helped him maintain the season lead with 97 points versus Hank’s 85. Candy is now third at 77, and Bearded Mike and Baklava are at 63 and 62 respectively. Alex, JD (with only four tourneys), and Sean round out the Top 8. Lee’s absence dropped him just out of the top.

The next tournament is Sunday at Bearded Mike’s house at 2pm – Ace-to-Five.

One Ball, Two Titles

KCL had 13 players, a bump up from the last two events. Despite placing second in deuce-to-seven triple draw, JD was first out in the single-draw variety. That also meant he couldn’t add to his season-leading kill total. Candy made her second early exit in a row, costing her the season lead in points. Of course, it’s possible that after Tim stormed out of five-card draw she just decided that home was too unbearable to keep showing up her husband. Get off the shnod Candy!


After Alex lost three close hands in a row, he was next out. Bearded Mike got Phil all-in with a slight chip margin and a 3567 vs. his 2346. After turning over a queen he was tossing the chips to Phil when Frenchie revealed his eight-outer – a king, and took his leave. After Sean’s rough-ten fell to a T8, the final table was set with seven.


Shelley looked to be in jeopardy but pulled a number-five against a rough-8 to double up. Still, she fell before Hank, who went out to Bearded Mike’s 9 and set up the bubble. Bak pulled a 97 but was bounced when he found himself up against Tim’s 87. He was not happy. After some back-and-forth Bearded Mike eventually got his third kill of the night by taking out Jim.

And then he blew a 35k chip lead with 72k in play. After being whittled down to 10k we went AI UTG with 234xx and ran into a luckbag’s pat 9. Tim and Dave battled until with a 1k chip lead Tim put Dave’s pat-8 all-in, and drew three cards to the second-nuts. Just kidding, I have no idea how it ended, but we know this: Tim has twice as many titles as he has balls, and the season point lead with 88 points. Congratulations Tim!

For all the two-balled (and no-balled) players without two titles, the next event is Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Hank’s house.

Blicka blicka.

Timmy - Stud for a Day

Jim had the chance to an unprecedented three-peat in Stud as a two-time reigning Champion, but he went out on the bubble and gave me a rare kill. Season-leader Candy made a rare early exit and was first out. Hank had a rare miss of the cash table, and joined Sean on the X-Box.

I made it to my first cash by outlasting a huge field of seven others. Baklava and I got all my chips in with me holding JQK of hearts, and the unluckiest stud player ever caught a third 10 on fifth to put me drawing to two outs or runner-runner.

Baklava was out next leaving Phil head-up with Tim. Tim was coming off a win in the on-like GPL after taking down Jason’s A6 flopped two-pair with a 74 that spiked trips on the river. Seriously. You can’t fade that, and he won.

After coming into the game with only one kill, I added three in a limit event – of course. Tim pulled a Hank, claiming only the last kill of the night. Candy’s early exit means JD maintains the lead in kills on the year.

The tournament page is updated (in the original post the TP software's site was down and not taking updates). Candy maintains the lead but it narrowed quite a bit, and she leads Tim by only six points. Hank is now third with 62. The next two spots needed no updating because they are held by people with only three events each: JD at 55 and Alex at 52. Lee and I are tied at 44 and Bak has 41. Sean is just outside of the Top 8 at 40, but his attendance at future events is in doubt anyway...

There’s something that feels inevitable about Hank and Five-Card Draw. He plays it more on-line than anyone else in the GPT, and it’s a game that places a premium on reading hands and situations. Starting with 11, we got down to the “final table” at seven. Phil went out relatively quickly, and then the game ground for over an hour before losing another player. After that Tim bubbled to set the four-way stage of Cash Money Playas.

Candy eliminated the next two players (and scored three of the last four kills missing only Tim) building a huge chip stack, and Hank and Candy settled in for a long head-up battle. The drama was too much to Tim to take, and he didn’t wait around for the end this time. Candy began head-up with a chip lead, but Hank whittled it down over time. When they were nearly even in chips they worked out a chop for the cash, and continued playing for points. Hank finally won, scoring his only kill of the day and his first of the year.

Hank now has cashed is every event except Hold’em, and Candy has cashed in two events including the Hold’em win. For the season Candy maintains a Hank-esque lead over the field with 72 points, with Hank and JD neck-and-neck at 56 and 55 points respectively. There currently are two players in the Top Eight who only have two events: Lee and Sean.

JD remains the leader for the Kill Trophy despite missing the year’s biggest even, Hold’em. JD’s 10 kills have Alex notched, whose nine kills also comes from only three events. Candy’s eight kills ranks third.

The new TOC-rake method of 8% of all buyins/rebuys/add-ons has been quite a success. The pot currently is $117 after only four events. By way of comparison, last year’s total pot was $185. Even ignoring Hold’em, that’s a pace that will translate into a bigger prize than Season 1, when we played 21 events (there are 15 this season).

Just Desserts – JD Follows Second-Place With a Win

In week two JD showed up for triple-draw almost on a dare, and ran over the table. He eventually ran into a more experienced tripled-draw player in Bak and came up just short, finishing second. Omaha is a game with which he’s more familiar, and this time he didn’t run out of gas. Hank cashed once again while getting tanked, his nemesis Tim still finished higher at third, and GPT rookie Alex finished second and collected another six kills to take the lead for the year. JD collected five pelts on the way to the title.

Gracie sent me some great pics so this post has more than normal, and she's nominated as the Official Photographer of the GPT. This tourney so the most live cash game ever following a GPT event with GPT regulars playing with players from Sean’s game.

Different Kinds of Records for Event 2

After last week’s numerous records triple draw set some of a different type – fewest players in over a year and biggest drop-off from one tourney to the next. I hold’em players really are chickenshit, except for JD, who showed up and ran over most of the competition. JD doesn’t play triple draw regularly – in fact, he may have never played it, but he brought his hold’em philosophy to the table which he described thus: “if you’re going to draw against me, you’re going to pay for it.”

We still saw a decent number of re-buys and so managed a nice pot. Travis went over an hour without re-buying, and then made up for lost time in level 3 including an all-in dark on his first hand after one re-buy. For his efforts he bubbled in fifth place. Tim came back from near-card-death for the first 90 minutes of play to finish fourth. He got some help on the last hand of the re-buy period when he got into a hand with Candy while holding a one-card draw, and he hit the nuts when she caught a #5.

A sober and on-call Hank made it to the final three with a chip deficit versus the hyper-aggressive JD and the lowball vet Baklava. Bak got off to a slow start but after the first hour of the tourney hit the keg and Heineken was like spinach to Popeye. After JD drew two against Hank’s made 9 and hit, he started heads-up against Bak with a chip lead. Bak first doubled-up, then got all-in with a slight chip lead and a 9. JD paired his six, ending the tourney stunningly early (which happens when you have 11 people).

Although Sean exited relatively early and didn’t collect a single kill, he remains atop the leader board in eliminations with six. In fact, the top three spots didn’t change with Scott in second and Candy in first. JD moved up to tie Alex with this three kills.

Hold’em was so huge that the current Top 8 includes four players who didn’t play in Event 2. Both Baklava and Hank moved into the Top 8 this week with their cashes. Shelley’s sixth place finish was enough to tie her with Hank for the eighth spot.

Next week’s tournament is Omaha (high) at Sean’s house in Deer Run. His e-mail will be in the cc that I send out and if you need directions and aren’t a douche you can e-mail him for them. Start time is 2pm as usual.

I forgot to drop a plug last week for a new on-line effort by one of our players – perfect for the mass of hold’em chumps. The Gainesville Poker League starts January 29 at 9pm on Ultimate Bet.

Record Breaking Tourney Launches Season Three

The opening of the Spring season broke the GPT record with 25 entrants – and that despite only two A3 alums. Hold’em brought a half-dozen newbies and several people we haven’t seen in months. Table One was the Wild West this time although no one approached Keith’s re-buy record. Jason tried, and Cash likely would have broken it but for winning hands with 4-high by catching runner-runner straight and the like. With every player adding-on and 35 re-buys the payout also was a record at more than $500.

The first three exits included a rookie, a vet, and one of the people we haven’t seen in months. The fourth exit was momentous as two-time Hold’em Champion Baklava went out with Jacks against Candy’s aces. Hank followed two spots later and a sizable cash game was on. Although there were $170,000 of chips in play the action went fairly quickly, and the final ten was set with three rookies Joe-C-Bowl, Evan “OC,” and Alex.


Sean sent out two players at once with aces vs. kings vs. queens (and Lee folding jacks as the initial raiser). This served to help build his war chest and his kill-count. Alex then sent Evan out on the bubble in seventh. After knocking out the champ from the previous two seasons, Candy also collected kills at the final table sending Scott out in sixth and Alex out in fifth. Sean then collected the next two scalps with More Dave going out fourth and Lee third.

The heads-up match lasted about 20 minutes despite the mountain of chips in play, and the tourney ended before midnight with Candy taking the title. The cash game then lasted for over three hours.


















The early lead for the Hit Man trophy goes to Sean who busted sixth people. The other early contenders are Candy and Scott each with five kills.

A Poker Crackdown in the UK Too

This is the club I play at in London. I am bad luck - my NY club got raided about 18 months ago and I don't know if it's even still open.

Derek Kelly of Gutshot Club Found Guilty

U.S. tax law has recognized poker as a game of skill since William E. Baxter Jr. vs. the United States. Baxter fought to prevent his winnings from being classified as "unearned income" and taxes at 70%. Incidentally, Baxter may be the best lowball player in history.

The famous story is that the judge offered the prosecutor the change to play Baxter heads-up, the prosecutor declined, and he lost the case. As the article above recounts, that story arose from the judge's ruling which included "I find the government's argument to be ludicrous. I just wish you had some money and could sit down with Mr. Baxter and play some poker."

All Hail Hank

With Pablo in Vegas the starting field was seven, and three players split two different chip bonus (although Pablo didn't make it, the 250 he was splitting for tying Candy in points was still chopped).


Bearded Mike knocked Phil out early and took Brandon's chips as well to build a huge stack. Candy finished off a depleted Tim and despite being third in chips Hank promised a win. Of course, heads-up wound up between him and Mike, with Sean cashing in third.



Bearded Mike started with not quite a two-to-one chip advantage, which quickly swung to Hank. After a long series of KCL took a large chunk out of a steaming Mike, the players took a brief break. The key hand (above) had Mike AI against Hank who had taken the lead in the hand. A call would have left Hank with only about 3,000 chips, but he eventually laid down the 6 in ace-to-five. Fittingly, the last hand of the TOC was another A-to-5 hand.

Sean Becomes First Male Repeat Winner of the Fall

We had a fairly small event for Hold'em - so small Bak had no chance to make the Top 8 since not points were on the line.

While the field was relatively narrow for the final event of the season, the game was suspenseful. Three players were in jeopardy of missing the cut, and others looked to move up and add chips to their TOC stack. While Hank was untouchable, second-place Brando held only a narrow two-point lead over Tim. Brando vaulted into second with consecutive cashes in Events 8 through 11.

Meanwhile, the remaining five spots were a proverbial cluster-fuck with only 12 points separating eight from fourth. Frenchie Phil held a slim one-point lead over Sean. Sean went into the final week with an eight-point lead over Bearded Mike, and from there it became very interesting. After 11 events Candy was 17 points out of a top eight spot, and anything less than a top cash in HORSE would seal her fate. She won it, placing her one point ahead of Jim with one event remaining.

Candy’s strong finish made for an interesting situation in the final event. With Pablo’s scheduling conflict, Bearded Mike, Candy, and Jim were left fighting for two remaining TOC spots. Pablo used this dynamic on at least one occasion (but likely more) to bluff Candy off of big hands.

Candy, Jim, and Pablo accounted for half of the players at table two, and Candy and Jim wound up AI against each other several times, but without calls. Jim finally flopped a pair against Hank and got AI. Hank held the top pair with a flush draw and no miracle came, sending Jim out, and putting Candy and Bearded Mike into the TOC.

Sean started with the chip-lead on me and won after a huge, enormous, crushing hit-out....um, actually it was a 60/40 hand and if I won it he still would have had the chip lead. Anyway, second put me ahead of Phil in points, and first pushed Sean all the way to second ahead of Tim and Brando who were tied.

Sean also became about the 10th winner in GPT history to be photographed with Malcolm X - way to go Sean!

Year of the Woman in the GPT

The GPT hosted its first weekend HORSE tournament with 45-minute blind levels, three games per level, 3,000 in chips, and dealer’s choice for the cash places in a set-up truly designed for skill players. Despite that, the 12-person field was our lowest of the year. For the most part, the early exits were from those who needed the points. Jim followed his Stud victory in Event 11 with a quick exit, and was the first out by over an hour. Tim, the only early departure who didn’t need to pick up points, went out next. He would be waiting a very long time.

After being crippled by Candy in Stud/8 hand while holding A345 with three diamonds on fourth street, Bearded Mike got AI in hold’em with two overs against Baklava’s tens, and was out in 10th. Baklava, who came over an hour late (and still had a chip edge over two people when he showed up) went out next, followed by Pablo and then Phil, who started the week within a point of each other. With the final six set, Brando was once again in the thick of things, along with Hank, both Seans, Lee and Candy.

Brandon was next to go though and it was almost time for dealer’s choice. Sean SP busted on the bubble leaving the cash players to battle in dealer’s choice. Hank got all-in several times and relied on Stud/8 as his game of choice. Both Candy and Hank were obliged to add triple draw to the rotation, but had no further takers. Hank finally came up short to go out fourth for his eighth cash of the year, and a lock on Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.

After Sean went out the showdown was set between Candy, a Season 2 Champion, and Lee, a self-described limit specialist. Lee came at her with chips, and Candy played great – “to be fair,” that description was from her husband, who may be biased. After waiting four hours he likely was giddy just to see the tournament end.



















Candy’s win, her second of the season, propelled her to the hunt for the Tournament of Champions – anything less than the top two probably would have sealed her fate. It’s not over of course with Jim merely one point behind, and with Candy in striking distance of two players. Candy’s win also means the only two repeat winners of the season are women. Brando’s late-season surge puts him at second just ahead of Tim, and with an eye towards a large ToC chip stack.

In the current Top 8, only Phil and Pablo haven’t won an event yet. They have one more chance on December 3 when the final even will be short-handed hold’em at Bearded Mike’s. We’ll also have our award presentation for Player of the Year, and the event will decide the Tournament of Champions line-up as well as their relative stacks.

Happy Thanksgiving – enjoy the land you stole from Bearded Mike’s peeps.

Yes I will update the site soon

Jim won Stud for his first title of the year adding to one runner-up.

Candy won HORSE for her second title, meaning the only two repeat winners this season are both women.

The following men will have something to do about that on December 3:
Hank
Brandon
Tim
Sean
Bearded Mike
Jim
Baklava
JD
Sean

Shelley – First Repeat Champion

Sean SP ended the rebuy period with a huge stack and wielded it mercilessly for hours Sunday. He entered the final table still in the lead. With six left, Bearded Mike, Brandon, and Candy were all short-stacked. Bearded Mike was the first to go followed shortly thereafter by Candy, but Brandon bucked the short-stack and put himself in contention to repeat as O/8 champion.

Pablo somewhat dodged the Curse of the Chip Scout when he cashed, finishing in fourth place. Brandon eventually went out third after a valiant comeback, setting up the heads-up match between Shelley and Sean. Sean continued to bully with his stack, but being a split pot game, Shelley hung in. Sean suffered a couple of brutal beats, including the last hand. When a 6 hit the turn Shelley made her low resigning Sean to half the pot with his set of jacks. After he said “damn, we’re going to chop again,” Shelley noted her wheal draw – “give me a four and it’s over.” Done.

Early exits by Jim, Phil, and Baklava and Brandon’s strong charge shook up the rankings this week. Hank and Tim still enjoy sizable leads, but Brando’s back-to-back cashes put him decisively in third place. Pablo, Phil, and Bearded Mike follow separated by only two points. While Jim currently holds the eighth spot, Baklava and Candy are within four points of him. The bad news: at Bearded Mike’s current rate the TOC will have to find a new venue this year...

Candy and Phil are World Famous

Next upload - Hank's ballz.

Nine Events, Nine Champions

Season two continued to be far different from season one, when a handful of people scored repeated titles. In our ninth event the GPT crowned our ninth Champion, furthering the broad distribution of Championship chips. Sean came into the final table with a nice stack and rode it to the final four. However, some draws hit against him and knocked him out in fourth.

But not before he hit out on Hank and crippled him. Hank eventually went out in third. Brando and Phil battled for about an hour, with Brando hitting several draws against made hands. In the final hand Phil missed drawing to a 7 with six-high and a gut-shot, and paired his 2.

The next tournament is Saturday and Lance will be here for Omaha/8. Note, the final four tournaments of the season are now scheduled.